The rules of binomial nomenclature are regulated by International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN).
Some of the rules are:
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Independent names for plants and animals.
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The scientific name consists of 2 epithets. First is the generic name and second is the species name.
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Genus name is a noun and species name is an adjective.
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The scientific name must be in Greek or Latin language.
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Scientific name should not be more than 12 and less than 3 letters.
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Generic name should come first and must begin with a capital alphabet. This is followed by the species name which starts by a small letter. Eg. Mangifera indica
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Same name should not be used for two or more species under the same genus.
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Scientific name should be printed in italics.
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When hand-written, the genus and species should be underlined separately.
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Name of the author who first described the species should be written after the specific name in Roman type.
e.g. Mangifera indica L.
Here, L stands for Linnaeus.
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Mentioning the author’s name after the species name is called as Citation.